Arts College (United Kingdom)

Arts Colleges logo

An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts.[1][2] They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England in 1997, being one of the five "practical specialisms" of the specialist schools programme.[3][4] They were then introduced to Scotland in 2005 and Northern Ireland in 2006.[5][6] By 2011, when the programme ended, there were over 491 Arts Colleges in England.[7] More have been introduced since then,[8] however schools must be an academy, free school or use the Dedicated Schools Grant to become one.[9]

Arts Colleges are entitled by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to select 10% of its yearly pupil intake based on academic aptitude, however this partial selection is optional.[10][11][12]

Arts Colleges act as a local point of reference for other schools and businesses in the area, with an emphasis on promoting art within the community.

  1. ^ "What are Arts Colleges". www.standards.dfes.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 18 December 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  2. ^ "School awarded specialist status". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  3. ^ "A history of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Specialist Science Schools" (PDF). buckingham.ac.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  5. ^ "SNP ministers scrap £15m Schools of Ambition project". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  6. ^ "NI specialist schools announced". 14 March 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. ^ "List of specialist schools October 2009". Department for Children, Schools and Families. Archived from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  8. ^ Bailes, Kathy (16 February 2022). "Going maths mad at Ramsgate Arts Primary School". The Isle Of Thanet News. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "School admissions and appeals". Department for Children, Schools and Families. 10 February 2010. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Specialist Schools - what do we know?" (PDF). risetrust.org.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 January 2018.
  12. ^ "Specialist schools' selection 'illegal'". 11 July 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2022.